


Once Upon a Time

by emiliaL128



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Closure, F/M, Gen, Goodbyes, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Reunions, Skye | Daisy Johnson Feels, Skye | Daisy Johnson Needs a Hug, Skye | Daisy Johnson-centric, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25134964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emiliaL128/pseuds/emiliaL128
Summary: Once upon a time, Lincoln and Daisy had been in love. So much so that he had sacrificed himself for her. With the team time traveling daily, it was inevitable that they would come across a familiar face or two. Daisy wasn't quite expecting one of them to be Lincoln. With the chronicoms after him, she has to save the man that she once loved, and kind of still does, even though he has no idea who she is. Plenty of Daisy angst ensues. Post Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 7x06, minor spoilers.ORDaisy finally gets to see Lincoln again, only to inevitably have to say goodbye.
Relationships: Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie/Yo Yo Rodriguez, Deke Shaw & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Lincoln Campbell & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Lincoln Campbell/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 56





	1. A Familiar Face

From the second the team arrived in 2014, Daisy had a terrible feeling. Being in a time so familiar to the team definitely gave them an advantage, but the potential of coming across some familiar faces put everyone on edge. Daisy, Jemma, and May all dreaded the possibility of seeing Ward again. Ian Quinn also was not someone they looked forward to seeing. Or for Daisy in particular, her parents, who were both still alive in 2014. There were so many variables that quite frankly, they just didn’t want to deal with.

Perhaps the worst part of it all was how they could come across old loved ones and have to say goodbye all over again. They would have to act like nothing had happened in order to preserve the timeline, having to deal with the fact that even though they would be able to warn them, they couldn’t. They would have to coexist while avoiding interacting with people they considered family that they so deeply missed. Then they’d have to leave them to die. That, they thought, might be worse than never seeing them again at all.

So, when the team saw a seemingly insignificant date on a newspaper headline, they were thankful. It had been a random date in time where no one could think of any notable event related to people that they knew. Though that unknown aspect of the time was of course nerve wracking, the team was grateful for the blissful ignorance.

As they gathered together to discuss, the tension in the room was astronomical. Jemma was the first to speak.

“Just to be clear, no one knows anything significant about the current date?” She spoke, a hint of desperation in her voice. The team just exchanged glances, no one saying anything.

“Perfect,” Jemma sighed, pacing anxiously. Mack walked to the middle of the room, his arms crossed as he spoke.  
“We’re at square one, but that could change at any second,” He said, turning to Daisy. “I want you to hack into any security cameras that you can and keep watch for anything suspicious.” 

Hesitating at first, Daisy nodded as Mack continued.

“Yo-Yo, May, Sousa, and Deke, you’re gonna survey the area for chronicoms. Try not to go too far. We don’t need another team member left behind. As soon as you get in time appropriate clothing, you’re cleared to dispatch. Enoch and Simmons will stay here and man the ship. Understood?”

There was an array of nods from the team. As the field team began to disperse, Daisy approached Mack, a slight look of annoyance plastered on her face. 

“I should be in the field, not watching security footage for who knows how many hours.”

Mack quickly replied, not even batting an eyelid, obviously having anticipated Daisy’s protesting. 

“You’re still recovering. You’re not 100% yet, you and I both know that.”

At this, Daisy was even more annoyed. Yes, Malick had done quite the number on her, but had been through worse. It had been a solid few days since her being in the chamber, and even if she may not have been back to 100% at this exact moment, she was very much approaching it. Besides, she had been on missions much more complicated than this one while she was much worse off.

“Simmons already cleared me, you and I both know that.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to send you back into the field the first chance there is. The team is fully capable of handling this right now. I see no reason to send you with them. I might need you in the field for a later mission, and I want you to be 100% when I do.”

“Mack,” Daisy was ready to protest more, but Mack interrupted her.

“Watch the cameras. That’s an order, Agent Johnson,” And with that, Mack left, leaving Daisy to her work.

\- - -

After a painstakingly long hour, Daisy was officially bored out of her mind. She had been watching the security footage like a hawk, seeing nothing more suspicious than an older man walking into a bar at 9pm.

It wasn’t until 9:54pm that she saw it.

In the middle of a conversation with Jemma, Daisy had taken note of a hooded figure, presumably a male, heading down an alleyway not far from the Zephyr. She had stopped a comment mid sentence, which caught the attention of the scientist.

“You were saying?” She asked, not looking up from her work.

“I think I see something, hold on,” Daisy spoke, zooming into the surveillance footage from the alley. The man had made his way to a keypad protected steel door positioned on a nearby building. Intently watching him while he brought his hand up to the keypad, Daisy’s heart dropped. She saw something emitting from the man’s fingertips.

Blue sparks. Short circuiting the keypad.

Lincoln.

“What is it?” Jemma asked, about to walk over to Daisy herself when the agent quickly spoke up, her voice cracking ever-so-slightly.

“Nothing, sorry,” She lied. Jemma thought nothing of it, resuming her work on the other side of the room. Daisy frantically transitioned to other cameras, falling upon another suspicious character. This time, she had a clear shot of the face. Her heart dropped even further. The man had an eerie resemblance to a chronicom the team had faced not more than a few days ago. And he was heading in the direction of the same alleyway that Lincoln, her Lincoln, had been in just moments ago. 

She had to get down there. She didn’t care about her orders. She didn’t care about the emotional pain that she was likely to feel in the near future. She just wanted to get to Lincoln, She had to save him. As she checked the location, she knew the field team wouldn’t make it in time. The alley was much closer to the Zephyr than it was to May, Sousa, Yo-Yo, and Deke, who were on the complete opposite side of the town. She had to act fast.

Daisy quickly deleted the surveillance from the alley at once, getting up from the chair.

“I need to grab something from my bunk, can you watch the screen for a few?” She asked Simmons a little too urgently.

“Erm, alright. Everything okay?” The woman asked, making her way over to where Daisy was. Daisy barely made an effort to answer, simply nodding her head as she speed walked away. 

Daisy’s bunk cover story wasn’t a total lie, as she did have to stop there first. Once there, she grabbed a leather jacket, throwing it over a blank tank top. She strapped on her gauntlets as she headed off the Zephyr, wasting no time. 

\- - -

Arriving at the alley, Daisy prayed that she wasn’t too late. She had gotten there quite quickly, but she knew the chronicom had more likely than not been in the building already. In the building with Lincoln. If it wasn’t for the clear effects of the adrenaline coursing through her veins, Daisy would have undoubtedly been much more nervous. Though, the reality of the situation hadn’t quite set in yet, whether for better or for worse.

So, Daisy ventured into the building at once, her hands shaking profusely. It didn’t take long for her to notice the not so distant voices, one of them not quite yelling but more than talking.

His voice.

Following it, Daisy was led to an open doorway that had been recently polished. In any other scenario, she would have wondered what Lincoln was doing here in the first place, but that was not a question forefront on her mind at the moment. She wanted to walk through it, but something inside her stopped her. She was stuck hiding at the side of it, completely frozen. Even if she tried to will her arms and legs to move, she wasn’t sure if they would listen. It wasn’t until she heard a crashing noise that she was shaken from her near-trance state.

On the floor, just peeking out from the doorway, Daisy could see some blond streaks of hair.

Her time for stalling was up. She stepped into the doorway, making an effort not to look at Lincoln quite yet. She sent a quake into the direction of the chronicom opposite him, sending them completely through the window. 

Before she knew it, she was sent into the wall herself, by none other than the man that she had been so in love with once upon a time.

“Who the hell are you?” He asked, fury mixed with fear hanging in his voice. She would have a lot of explaining to do.


	2. Reunion

He was the first inhuman Daisy had felt a true connection with. The man that she had loved. That had loved her. That had sacrificed himself for her and died for her. And now, he was back. He was standing right in front of her.

Except, he wasn’t.

Something was off about him, Daisy knew that much. Her eyes scanned his entire body, ultimately landing on his eyes. They looked so cold. They weren’t warm and loving like she remembered. Instead, they were full of unfamiliarity, anger, confusion, and even a little bit of hatred. Not an ounce of love. The Lincoln she knew never looked at her like that. Seeing him now, looking at her so void of love, it killed her.

She craved his touch. She wanted to feel her lips on his. She wanted to tell him how much she missed him. How much she loved him. She had never even gotten the chance to say “I love you”. And she couldn’t do it now, either. This Lincoln in front of her had no idea who she was. He hadn’t shared the moments with her that her Lincoln had. He wasn’t in love with her. She was disposable to him.

And in that building, with the electricity building up in his hands and his eyes trained on her as if she was a target, he was a threat to her.

“I said, who the hell are you?” He took a threatening step toward Daisy, lifting his hands and obviously ready, and willing, to fight her, even hurt her.

_I would never hurt you._

The words flashed through her mind as she watched him staring at her like a hawk. She tried to push them away. No, it wasn’t him. It wasn’t her Lincoln. She knew that. But that didn’t make it hurt any less.

A steady stream of electricity snapped her out of her thoughts. She used her own powers to shield herself, with both inhumans ceasing their powers after a few seconds.

Staring at him, and him staring back at her, Daisy just sat there. She couldn’t move. She felt paralyzed. She had no idea what or how to say it.

A police car siren sounded in the distance, putting Lincoln instantly more on edge. He looked towards the window, then at Daisy. 

“Thank you for getting rid of that, that _thing_ , but just leave me the hell alone.” With that, he made a run for the door. Daisy panicked. She couldn’t lose him, not again. She refused.

Without thinking, she stuck out her hand, sending a quake towards Lincoln strong enough to knock him off his feet.

“I, I can’t,” Daisy breathed heavily. She didn’t take her eyes off of him for a second, didn’t even blink, out of the fear that if she did, he would be gone. She did her best to compose herself. “I can’t let you do that.”

“Oh, is that right?” Lincoln had yet to move from the spot he had been quaked to. He had sat up, but nothing more. He seemed to catch on quickly that Daisy was much stronger than him. Even so, Daisy could see the sparks at his fingertips, clearly ready to be used if Lincoln saw the right opportunity.

“You’re in danger.” Daisy slowly got up to her feet, maintaining eye contact with him all the while. Her getting up seemed to tell him that he was allowed to do the same. He followed suit.

“Always am.” He stood unwavering. His fists were clenched at his sides, annoyance practically fuming off of him. Did he really think brute force would work against her? Daisy shook off the thought. She just had to get him to safety. That was all that mattered.

“Not like that,” Daisy shook her head, unsure of how to communicate the gravity of the situation. “That guy that came after you,” She nodded to the empty window frame that she had thrown the chronicom through. “There are more of them. Way more of them. And they won’t stop until you’re dead.”

“Me?” He looked at her incredulously, gesturing to himself. “Sorry to tell you lady, but you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m a nobody. I’m not that worth it to anyone.”

_You were to me._

“I don’t have time to explain. Just come with me. I’ll tell you everything later, I promise.” Desperation slowly crept into Daisy’s voice. She knew they had very little time to get out of there before chronicoms showed up. She wasn’t going to lose him, not again. She couldn’t.

“Why should I trust you? You just attacked me.”

“Because you would have left and gotten yourself killed.” 

“So what? Why do you care?”

“Because I do,” There was a certain volume to her voice that wasn’t there before. She made it a point to lower it before continuing. “I am begging you. We don’t have much time.”

“Who are you?” He persisted.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

Daisy sighed, crossing her arms and tapping her foot anxiously.

“I’m from the future.”

The honest comment earned a disbelieving scoff out of Lincoln.

“You’re right, I don’t believe you,” Lincoln took a step closer to the door. “Well, this has been fun, crazy lady, but I have to go.”

And with that, he did. Or at least, he tried to. Daisy stopped him. Not with her powers. She knew he would just keep fighting if she tried to stop him physically

“Amanda Campbell.”

He immediately stopped in his tracks, turning back to face her.

“What?”

“Amanda Campbell,” Daisy repeated. “She’s your sister.”

“Leave her out of this.”

“I know about her, because in the future, I know _you_.”

Lincoln shook his head, coming slightly closer to Daisy. There was a sudden seriousness in his demeanor.

“That doesn’t prove anything. It’s not like that’s private information.”

Of course, Daisy had a feeling that wouldn’t work. In all fairness, she hadn’t been thinking clearly. She also didn’t want to resort to the alternative, much more personal information she could share her knowledge of. Looking at the stubbornness plastered on Lincoln’s face, she knew she had no choice.

“You had a girlfriend.”

Instead of replying, Lincoln just stared daggers at Daisy.

“You had a problem with alcohol. She fought with you about it a lot.”

“Shut up.”

She didn’t. Daisy continued.

“After one fight, you crashed your car with her in it. You were drunk. She almost died.”

“I said, shut up!” Lincoln’s eyes filled with electricity. He sent a wave of it at Daisy, catching her off guard. She went flying into the wall once again, a sharp pain shooting up her side as she landed on a piece of broken glass from the shattered window. She let out a slight gasp at the sudden pain, clutching her side. On instinct, she went to pull it out, but Lincoln stopped her.

“Don’t. It’s the only thing stopping the bleeding.”

He had calmed down considerably compared to mere seconds ago. Looking at him, Daisy could see a new emotion overtake his eyes. Guilt.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how else to get you to listen.”

Lincoln looked down, running his fingers through his hair. After a second or so, he looked back up at her.

“I’m not saying I believe you, but I’ll go with you. If there really are more of those things, I might need some help.”

Daisy nodded as Lincoln made his way over to her, offering his hand. She went to take it, but upon contact, sparks literally flew. Her heart skipped a beat. The physical contact was too much for her.

So, she dropped her hand and helped herself up, being extra cautious of the glass shard sticking out of her side.

Just then, the two of them could hear pounding footsteps from inside the building, not too far off. They could hear doors being kicked down.

They were too late.


End file.
